From Latin America to East Asia, the pet food market is growing into new territory, and the revenues of pet food manufacturers based in those regions are increasing along with it. Although US-based companies still dominate the industry, Petfood Industry’s annual Top Pet Food Companies issue highlighted the shifts within the world’s pet food industry that took place over the past year.

Asia

Newly ranking in the Top 10 for 2015 was Japan-based Unicharm at No. 8 with US$722.6 million in annual revenue in 2015. Unicharm came in first for pet food companies based outside the US. Unicharm made a big jump since 2013, when it ranked No. 21 with revenue of US$268.8. Unicharm’s significant growth over the past two years highlights the growth in Asian pet food markets as a whole, which, according to Euromonitor International data, ranked among the highest growth rate around the world for 2015. The data showed India’s market growth to be 25%, with Indonesia and Thailand growing 14%, while China and the Philippines grew 10%. Altogether, Asia accounted for 9% of global pet care sales in 2015. Japan grew much slower but remained the largest of the Asian markets.

Europe

The second and third largest non-US pet food companies were Germany-based Deuerer and Heristo AG, respectively. Recently, Ireland-based C&D Foods acquired Continentale Nutrition. C&D, the pet food division of ABP Group, ranked sixth in revenues for non-US firms in 2015. However with the acquisition of Continentale, C&D Foods became the largest private label pet food manufacturer in Europe, reported European Supermarket Magazine. This purchase by C&D reflects a trend in the pet food industry of mergers and acquisitions, mirroring the human food market.

Latin America

Another European firm, France-based InVivo Animal Nutrition, acquired Brazil-based Total Alimentos. InVivo used the acquisition to continue their growth in Latin America, building on their already-solid presence in Mexico.